Faculty

Who teaches at Conway?

We engage as teachers those whose integrity allows them to speak from their hearts and out of their lives, rather than simply from a textbook or solely on a theoretical basis. We value—and debate—theory, but value it most as it has relevance in practice.

Faculty positions have various functions. Core faculty are the glue or continuity of the program. At least one of the core teachers is with the students every day and for some sessions, such as Wednesday morning presentations, there are two or three faculty members present.

Adjunct faculty add to the experience base of the core faculty by offering a depth of experience in a particular area, such as ecology, regenerative design, or graphics. In addition to teaching parts of the core curriculum, some adjuncts work with students in the studio, while others interact more frequently with students in the field.

Weekly visitors are also key contributors to the education at Conway. They conduct workshops, give talks, advise on projects, and interact in other ways. They typically have very targeted knowledge (such as how septic systems work or how forests may change over time) or a depth of design experience (such as in permaculture or conservation planning.)

Core Faculty

Paul Cawood Hellmund
Director
email Paul

MLA, Harvard Graduate School of Design(1983)
BS, Landscape Horticulture, Colorado State University (1977)
Over 20 years’ professional experience as a landscape architect and planner
Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, Colorado State University (2003-2005)
Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1983-1986)
Principal of Hellmund Associates, LLC

Paul Cawood Hellmund is the CSLD as Director and core faculty member. Paul is a Panama-born Colorado educator and practitioner, a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a member of the United States International Association of Landscape Ecology.

The focus of Paul Cawood Hellmund’s design research, practice, and teaching is improving the relationship between people and nature, especially in urban, suburban, and degraded landscapes.

He co-edited the 1993 book, Ecology of Greenways, which was recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects with a national award. He also was principal author of Colorado State Parks’ widely circulated “Planning Trails with Wildlife in Mind.”

He sees finding a balance between nature and people as a key factor in creating sustainable communities and collaborative design as essential to progress in sustainability.

At Colorado State University, Paul taught undergraduate students of landscape architecture in courses in sustainable design, landscape ecology, environmental analysis, and landscape planning and organizes interdisciplinary projects looking at various aspects of protected areas planning in the U.S. and abroad.

Ken Byrne
Humanities and Core Faculty Member
email Ken

Ed.D., University of Massachusetts (2003)
M.Ed., University of Massachusetts (1996)
B.A. (honors), English, Brown University (1986)

Ken Byrne Ken joined the faculty in 2003 as instructor of the Design Language course. An educator for eighteen years, Ken arrived with a wide range of experience, from teaching secondary school in Macau, to educational design consulting for an environmental NGO in the Philippines, to teaching college writing and creative non-fiction at the University of Massachusetts. He has also been active in projects linking environmental and social health to community development efforts, both in the Connecticut River Valley region and abroad.

Interdisciplinary by inclination, Ken’s academic work draws on geography, philosophy, economics, anthropology, education, psychology, and literary theory to examine the relationship between the human subject and its environment. He is interested in alternative concepts of economy and community, and believes that one of the functions of education should be to unsettle fixed or conventional notions of the individual, nature, society, and development.

Attracted to the CSLD’s ecological mission, its rigorous yet humane applied learning approach, its progressive educational methods and philosophy, and its cross-disciplinary integrated curriculum, Ken enjoys working in an environment in which students feel both properly supported and challenged to explore and grow on their own terms.

B. Kim Erslev
Landscape Design and Graphics, and Core Faculty Member
email Kim

MLA University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1996)
MArch, University of Pennsylvania (1987)
BA,Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (1979)

Kim Erslev Kim is both a practicing architect and a landscape architect with her own firm, Salmon Falls Ecological Design, based in Shelburne Falls. She has been a frequent visiting critic at the school and joined the faculty in 2006. She has more than fifteen years of experience with sustainable landscape and architectural design.

Kim’s professional work is dedicated to creating designs that connect humans with the inherent power and beauty of natural systems. She has worked with several design firms on a diversity of projects including; the design of the Micmac Heritage Center in Northern Canada, the Jerusalem Science Museum, the Greenfield / NESEA Energy Park, the Eric Carle Museum, and the design of a new town destroyed by a volcanic mud-slide in Colombia, South America. Her current design practice focuses on the design of super-insulated passive solar homes, ecological landscapes, and co-housing communities.

Kim is a talented designer with strong skills in conceptualization, drawing, and design communication. She is an enthusiastic teacher who encourages students to work and learn cooperatively. She has taught at Temple University and throughout graduate school at the University of Massachusetts. Kim teaches landscape design at the Conway School on a half-time basis, where her focus is on graphics as well as residential-scale and community design training in the fall and spring terms.

Jono Neiger
Regenerative Design and Core Faculty Member
email Jono

MALD, Conway School of Landscape Design (2003)
BS, Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (1989)

Jono Neiger Jono is a conservation biologist with 17 years experience in land stewardship, ecological studies, restoration, and conservation commission staffing. He served as Lost Valley Educational Center’s Land Steward and Permaculture Apprenticeship Program Director in Oregon for five years, founded and served as Coordinator of the Lost Creek Watershed Council in Oregon for four years, was Restoration Ecologist with the Nature Conservancy of California for two years, and served as Conservation Commission Agent for the Town of Palmer (Massachusetts) for four years.

A permaculture teacher and designer since 1996, Jono works to help organizations and individuals further their goals for stewarding their land and for creating productive, regenerative human ecosystems. Currently the principal of Regenerative Design, a permaculture design and consultation firm in Leverett, Massachusetts. Jono also teaches landscape design at the Conway School on a half-time basis, including primary responsibility for the surveying part of the curriculum in the fall term.